Margaret Danner facts for kids

Margaret Danner (born 1915, died 1984) was an American poet, editor, and cultural activist. She was known for her beautiful poems and for celebrating African culture and history.

Early Life in Chicago

Margaret Esse Danner was born in 1915. She grew up in Chicago during a time called the Great Migration. This was when many African Americans moved from the South to cities in the North.

When she was in eighth grade, Margaret won first prize in a school poetry contest. Her poem was called "The Violin." She studied at several colleges, including Loyola University and Roosevelt College.

Margaret also learned a lot from the African-American cultural scene in Chicago. She joined groups that focused on art and literature. One important group was Inez Cunningham Stark's poetry workshop. Here, she met other famous poets like Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Goss Burroughs. In 1946, Margaret started Art Associates. This group helped to bring together and support black writers and poets in Chicago.

Margaret also connected with well-known poets like Langston Hughes. She wrote to him about her goal to make her poems stronger. She wanted her writing to carry powerful messages about African-American pride and racial equality.

Her poems, like "Etta Moten's Attic," showed her growing love for black African arts and cultures. She studied African art and history from books and museums. Margaret believed that black people should be aware of their "vast beauty." She tried to show this in her poems.

In 1951, Margaret joined Poetry: A Magazine of Verse as an editorial assistant. In 1956, she became the first African American to be an assistant editor for the magazine. One of her most famous poems, "Far From Africa: Four Poems," was published in Poetry in 1951. This poem helped her win a fellowship to travel to Africa, which she did in 1966.

Margaret Danner was married to Cordell Strickland, and they had a daughter named Naomi. Later, she married Otto Cunningham.

Detroit Years and Boone House

In 1959, Margaret moved to Detroit. She joined a lively group of black writers and artists there. This group included writers like Dudley Randall and Naomi Long Madgett.

In 1962, Margaret became a poet-in-residence at Wayne State University. That same year, she convinced a pastor to let her use an empty church house. She turned it into a cultural center for black writers, artists, and musicians. This place was called Boone House.

Boone House became a creative home for the Detroit group from 1962 to 1964. Famous visitors like Langston Hughes came to support the writers there. Naomi Long Madgett remembered Boone House as an old house that was "beautiful in its details but in poor repair." Despite its condition, the artists were happy to have a place to meet.

At Boone House, Margaret Danner and Dudley Randall worked together on a book called Poem Counterpoem (1966). This was the first book published by Randall's Broadside Press. This press became a very important publisher for black writers.

Margaret Danner also joined the Baháʼí Faith. She shared this faith with poet Robert Hayden. She even toured to promote the religion and shared her experiences.

Later Career

In 1966, Margaret finally took her trip to Africa. She went to Dakar, Senegal, for the First World Festival of Negro Arts. Her poem "At Home in Dakar" was inspired by this trip.

Margaret supported the Black Arts Movement that grew in the 1960s. This movement celebrated black culture and identity. She believed that "black is beautiful," a message that was becoming popular.

She also worked as a poet-in-residence at colleges like Virginia Union University and LeMoyne–Owen College. These were historically black institutions. Margaret continued to help young people and edited two collections of student poems.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Margaret published more poetry books, including Iron Lace (1968) and The Down of a Thistle (1976). Her poems often featured African art, nature, and city life. She also wrote about her grandson, Sterling Washington, Jr., whom she called "Muffin." He seemed to represent the future of African Americans in her poems.

Margaret Esse Danner passed away on January 1, 1984, in Chicago. Her writings and papers are kept at the University of Chicago library.